Polyhydroxyalkanoate Production with a Feast/Famine Feeding Regime Using Sludge from Wastewater Treatment Plants of the Food and Beverage Industry

This study investigates the potential of using sludge from the wastewater treatment plants of three food and beverage manufacturing plants to produce polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) using a feast and famine feeding regime. Synthetic wastewater containing acetate was used to stimulate the production of PHA in sequencing batch reactors (SBRs). The results show that sludge from the wastewater treatment plants of a beverage and brewery manufacturing factory, canned pineapple manufacturing factory, and fruit juice manufacturing factory can be used to produce PHA of up to 7.57% gPHA/gMLSS, 15.10% gPHA/gMLSS, and 51.82% gPHA/gMLSS, respectively, with total stimulus duration of 85, 24, and .12d, respectively. The microbial communities in the SBRs were compared using PCR-DGGE of 16S rRNA gene fragments. The results show that the microbial communities shifted after the feast/famine feeding, and that they varied among the SBRs seeded with the different sludge. The differences in the microbial communities, PHA stimulation time, and maximum PHA contents achieved among the different initial sludge suggest the importance of sludge selection in PHA production.